Self positioning seat

ABSTRACT

A self positioning tractor seat assembly includes a seat pivotally mounted on a cantilever shaft which is itself pivotally mounted on one side of the tractor. A cable means is provided which automatically pivots the seat when the cantilever shaft is manually pivoted.

United States Patent 1 Peterson et al.

[111 3,747,723 1 July 24, 1973 SELF POSITIONING SEAT- [75] Inventors:Wayne L. Peterson, Woodridge;

David L. Blinne, Naperville; Robert W. Sanderson, III, Lombard, all ofIll.

[73] Assignee: International Harvester Company,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Dec. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 213,628

[52] US. Cl 180/77 S, 248/425, 296/65 R, 297/349 [51] Int. Cl Bn 1/02[58] Field of Search 180/77 S; 296/63, 296/ R; 297/240, 349; 248/416,417, 425; 182/2 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,542,42411/1970 Bingley et al. 297/349 3,233,765 2/1966 Barnes 180/77 S X3,159,240 12/1964 Miller 182/2 2,700,411 l/1955 Lamb 296/65 R X2,845,990 8/1958 Hubert 248/425 X 3,642,088 2/1972 Smith 180/77 S2,617,661 11/1952 Kucera [/77 S X 2,650,647 9/1953 MacKnight 297/349 X3,398,984 8/1968 Ajero /77 S X Primary Examiner-Benjamin Hersh AssistantExaminer-Leslie J. Paperner Attorney-Floyd B. Harman [57] ABSTRACT Aself positioning tractor seat assembly includes a seat pivotally mountedon a cantilever shaft which is itself pivotally mounted on one side ofthe tractor. A cable means is provided which automatically pivots theseat when the cantilever shaft is manually pivoted.

11 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented July 24, 1973 2 SheetsSheet 1Patented July 24, 1973 2 Sheets-Shoot l l l 3 SELF POSITIONING SEATBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to seatsand more particularly to seat assemblies designed for use in conjunctionwith vehicles having a pair of spaced control stations, that is,equipment units that operate from both the front and back. An example isa loader tractor mounted backhoe, wherein it is desirable to use thesame seat for driving the loader tractor and also for operating therear-mounted backhoe.

Previously, seats have been designed which could be pivoted and usedeither for forward or backward orientated work. Two separate seatsystems have been provided on a vehicle, wherein the operator shiftsfrom one to the other to face in the desired direction. How ever, it isoften difficult for a pivot seat to operate when the surrounding spaceis taken up by equipment and such. An additional factor to be consideredis the desire to have the entire back part of the vehicle exposed formaintainance and repair. That is, a seat which can be pivoted to oneside leaving the center deck clear of obstructions would allow quick,easy access to the components located beneath the deck.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a seat assemblyadaptable to re-positioning whereby a single seat can be used at a pairof spaced control stations.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tractor seat assemblypivotable such that the center deck of the tractor is clear ofobstructions.

Yet another object is to provide a self positioning seat pivoting fromone side of the tractor.

Still another object is to provide an automatic positioning means havingthe function of automatically pivoting the seat as the seat assemblypivots.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment of the invention and from the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of a tractor/backhoe equipped with the seat assemblyembodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view of the preferred embodiment of theself positioning seat according to this invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top view of the self positioning seat;

FIG. 4 is a top sectional view of the cylindrical member;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the cylindrical member;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the geometric relationship existing between themember components and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the geometricrelationship between the two positions of the seat assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT This invention features a noveland simplified design for an automatic positioning means connectedbetween the seat means or mounting and the vehicle that pivots the seat.The design also provides a means for positioning the entire seatassembly to leave the tractor deck clear of seat mechanisms andobstructions. The seat assembly comprises a support means orcantilevered shaft pivotally mounted on one side of the tractor, a seatmeans for supporting the operator pivotally mounted at the end of theshaft and a cable which has both of its ends fixed to the tractor frameand runs in a figure eight design between the two pivot points. Ineffect, as the seat assembly and shaft are pivoted through one angle,tension is changed on the cable, which simultaneously pulls the seatthrough a second angle. Thus, the operator need only push the seatassembly in one direction, he is not required simultaneously to achievethe rather difficult additional pivot, this being automaticallyaccomplished by the cable.

The equipment illustrated in FIG. l'comprises a typical tractor 10having a rear supporting portion 12 on which an earth-working implementsuch as a backhoe is mounted. The tractor is equipped with conventionalcontrols 16 as is the backhoe represented at 18. The rear deck 20 of thetractor is comprised of plates 22 secured to the frame to protect theunderlying equipment, and extend over the entire rear area. According tothis invention, the seat assembly 24 is pivotally mounted adjacent toone side 26 of the tractor for movement be-tween a forwardly facing anda rearwardly facing position.

Particular reference is now made to FIGS. 2 and 3. The deckplate 28 issecured removably against the side wall member 30 and 32 and forms agenerally right angle. Further, the deck plate is apertured 34 and 36.An elongated cylindrical mounting collar 38 or base member is welded tothe deck plate 28 adjacent to the aperture 34 and extends upwardly abovethe plate and downwardly through the aperture. The central bore 40 ofthe collar 38 receives a cantilevered support shaft 42 which ispivotally mounted on bearings 44. As its upper end 46 collar 38 isprovided with a thrust bearing 48 which is aligned with and adjacent awasher 50 welded to the shaft 42, and a cylincrical sleeve member 49.The washer 50 is welded to the shaft such that vertical loads aredistributed between the thrust bearing 48 and the bearings 44. Directlyabve the thrust bearing 48 and the shaft curves through a smooth bend at52 forming an angle of about 90 with the base part 54 of the shaft 42.

A locking means or locking pin assembly 55 is provided at 56. Theplunger 58 of the assembly passes through an aperture 60 in the shaft42; a spring 64 located in a hollow elongated collar 68 yielding holdsthe plunger 58 in a downward position. As shown in FIG. 2, the end 70 ofthe plunger is tapered to facilitate penetration into the aperture 36 inthe deck plate 28. When the plunger end 70 is so positioned, the shaftis immobilized against any pivotal movement. The plunger 58 is capableof vertical movement out of the aperture by action of the operator onthe handle 74. The operator thus, when he desires to pivot the shaft,can, while seated, reach down, raise the plunger out of the aperture andpivot the shaft 42,

At the end 76 of the shaft 42 is a seat support means 77 comprised of anelongated cylindrical mounting collar 78. The central bore 80 of collar78 receives a pivoting support shaft 82 which pivots in the bore 80 onbearing 84. At its upper end 86 collar 78 carries a thrust bearing 88.The end 90 of shaft 82 which extends out of and above the upper end ofthe collar 86, has secured thereon a seat mounting member 92. Secured onsaid mounting member 92 is a seat 93, the bottom of said mounting member92 contacting and riding on said thrust bearing 88.

As herein described, seat mounting member 92, through shaft 82 andbearings 84,848 is pivotally relative to shaft 42, while the shaft 42,through bearings 44,48 is pivotally relative to the deck 20. The lockingpin 55 is provided for selectively locking the shaft 42 against pivotalmovement in a plane horizontal with the deck 20.

At its lower end 94 shaft 82 has fixed thereto a rotating means or openbottom cylindrical member 96. The member 96 is secured to the shaft end94 which extends out from collar 78, such that the top surface 98 isadjacent to, but not in contact with the bottom end 100 of the collar78. The cylindrical member 96 thus pivots freely as a unit with theshaft 82. A preferred mode of securing the cylindrical member to theshaft is with bolts 102 and 103. The bolts extend through apertures inthe top surface 98 and are threaded into suitable apertures in the shaft82.

Cylindrical member 96, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, mounts two bolts orpins 106 and 108. The bolts pass through aligned apertures 114 and 115in the side 116 of the member and are secured in the preferredembodiment with nuts 118 and 119.

Passing around the back surface 120 of the member 96 is a cable 122,which runs over the top of the shank 107 of bolt 106 and under thebottom of the shank 109 of bolt 108. Adjacent the cable 122, separatingit from the bolt heads is an elongated member or curved plate 126. Theapertures 114 and 115 are aligned with holes 128 and 129 in'the plate126, lock washers separating the bolt heads 124 and 124a from that ofthe front plate surface 132.

In practice, bolt 106 is passed through a washer, through an aperture incurved plate 128 and through an aperture 114 in the cylindrical member96 for hand tight threaded engagement with a nut 118. The cable 122 ispassed over the top of shank 107 and twisted down such that when bolt108 is positioned in the same manner as was bolt 106, the cable passesbeneath the shank part 109. The nuts 118 and 119 are then torqued tightcausing the cable to be immobilized in sandwiched fashion between thecurved plate 126 and the side 116 of the cylindrical member 96, yet thecable is obviously easily removable.

As shown in FIG. 3 the cable 122 is stretched in a fixed figure 8configuration around the sleeve member means 49 and rotating means 96 ofseat mounting means 77, the ends 136 and 138 thereof being anchored bysuitable means on bracket 140. The bracket 140 is fastened to the sidewall member 30 of the tractor by a suitable means such as welding orriveting, and has two transversely disposed openings 142 and 144. Theopenings 142 and 144 are in the same vertical plane, but not in the samehorizontal plane, one being located above the other. The horizontaldisplacement difference allows the cable 122 to be fastened without theupper 150 or lower 152 strands touching in a rubbing manner on thesurface 154 of sleeve means 49. Protection against rubbing in the centerportion 156 of the 8 configuration, where the cable crosses itself, isprovided by the over and under threading around shanks 107 and 109 thusavoiding fraying. It is thus apparent that this manner of threadingachieves two purposes, the one being separation of the cable parts toprevent rubbing and two, a simple locking procedure to prevent anyslippage of the cable 122 under the curved plate 126. If any slippage ofthe cable were to occur, then as support shaft 42 was pivoted theresulting change in the cable sections 158 and 160 would be compensatedfor by slippage under the curved plate 126. In actual practice, thechange in cable sections 158 and causes the cable to pull cylindricalmember 96 to compensate for the length change. The amount that thecylinder is pulled around corresponds to the pivoting of seat from afront facing to a rearward facing position. Thus, it is seen in FIG. 1that as the shaft 42 is pivoted from position A to position B, or viceversa, changes in length in cable section 158 and 160 cause the seat toautomatically reorientate itself to face in the desired direction.

In order to better control the angle through which th operator can pivotthe shaft 42, stops or dogs 162 and 163 are fixed on the upper end ofcylinder 46. A corresponding stop or dog 164 is fixed on shaft 42 suchthat the angle of pivot is thereby fixed. A like pivot limiting meansexists at the upper end of cylinder 86 and the bottom 168 of seat mount92. Dogs or stops 172 and 174 are fixed on cylinder 86 and thecorresponding stop 176 is fixed to bottom 168.

A shield of generally elongated rectangu-lar dimensions is secured tothe collars pivot points 50 and 77 to provide protection for the cable.

The actual angle through which the seat pivots depends on the anglethrough which shaft means 42 is pivoted and the relationship between thediameters of cylindrical members 49 and 96. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7wherein: H is the horizontal distance traveled by seat 93, a is thedegrees of rotation of cylinder 96, with respect to its originalposition [3 is the degrees of an arc swept out by shaft 42, L is thedistance between the centers of cylinders 96 and 49, A is the diameterof cylinder 96, and C is the diameter of cylinder 49. These parametersare related by the formulae: B arc cos (1 H/2L and A =B/a-B)C. It isthus apparent that by the varying of selected parameters it is possibleto pivot a centilevelrely mounted seat through any desired angle.

Thus, the single seat is pivotable in either of two positions, asindicated, and leaves the center deck clear of obstructions. In additionthe interengagement of the seat assembly mechanism accomplishes two seatorientation movements by one simple physical movement by the operator.

Further, because the seat is positioned substantially at the end of ametal lever arm, there is a degree of float or spring therein due to theflexible nature of, in the preferred embodiment, steel. Thus, theoperator is in part insulated against jarring, etc.

Variations in the disclosed structure may be readily resorted to withoutdeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A seat assembly for use on a vehicle having a pair of spaced controlstations, comprising:

a seat means for supporting an operator;

a support means pivotally mounted at one end to the vehicle androtatably supporting the seat means at the other end;

said support means being arranged to be pivotable between a firstposition in which the seat means is adjacent one of said stations and asecond position adjacent the other of said stations; and

a cable means means operatively connected between the seat means and thevehicle and responsive to manual pivoting of said support means betweenits first and second positions to rotatethe seat the A B/a B C.

5. The seat assembly of claim 4 wherein: said cylindrical members havecenters, the distance therebetween being L; said center of said seatmeans cylindrical member upon pivoting of said support means moving adistance H; and 1 B arc cosine (l H IZL 6. The seat assembly of claim 5wherein: the cable is fixed to the vehicle and extends around the seatmeans and the support means in a figure 8 configuration.

7. A seat assembly for use on a vehicle having a pair of spaced controlstations, comprising:

a support shaft;

means of mounting the support on one side of the vehicle for pivotalmovement relative thereto;

a seat;

means of mounting the seat on the support shaft for pivotal movementrelative thereto; and

a calbe means having a first and second end stretched around said seatmounting means and said shaft mounting means in a figure 8 configurationand each of said ends being secured to said vehicle.

8. The seat assembly of claim 7 wherein said cable means is removablyfixed to said seat mounting means.

9. A seat assembly for use on a vehicle having a deck, a side wall and apair of spaced control stations comprising:

a base member connected to the deck near a side wall thereof, acentilevered shaft pivotally secured to and having one end extendinginto said base member, a seat support member pivotally mounted at theother end of said cantilevered shaft, and a seat mounted on said seatsupport; and

a cable having first and second ends attached to said vehicle atdifferent heights, said cable encompass ing said base member and saidseat support member in a figure 8 configuration, said cable beingremovably fixed to said seat mounting means.

10. The seat assembly of claim 9 wherein said seat supporting membercomprises: an elongated mounting collar connected to said support shaft,an upwardly and downwardly extending support shaft having a seat mountsecured to one end and a pivoting means to the other end. w

11. The seat assembly of claim 10 wherein said pivoting means is acylindrical member having a releasable locking means for securing saidcable thereto, said locking means comprising pin means releasablyreceived in said cylindrical member and an elongated plate member.

1. A seat assembly for use on a vehicle having a pair of spaced controlstations, comprising: a seat means for supporting an operator; a supportmeans pivotally mounted at one end to the vehicle and rotatablysupporting the seat means at the other end; said support means beingarranged to be pivotable between a first position in which the seatmeans is adjacent one of said stations and a second position adjacentthe other of said stations; and a cable means means operativelyconnected between the seat means and the vehicle and responsive tomanual pivoting of said support means between its first and secondpositions to rotate the seat the proper distance on said support meansso that an operator therein is facing the adjacent control station. 2.The seat assembly of claim 1 wherein: the support means is mounted nearone wall of the vehicle.
 3. The seat assembly of claim 1 wherein: thesupport means is a cantilevered shaft.
 4. The seat assembly of claim 1wherein: said seat means includes a cylindrical member having a diameterA, said member being rotated through an angle Alpha ; said support meansincludes a cylindrical member having a diameter C, said member beingrotated through an angle Beta ; and A Beta / Alpha - Beta C.
 5. The seatassembly of claim 4 wherein: said cylindrical members have centers, thedistance therebetween being L; said center of said seat meanscylindrical member upon pivoting of said support means moving a distanceH; and Beta arc cosine (1 - H2/2L2.)
 6. The seat assembly of claim 5wherein: the cable is fixed to the vehicle and extends around the seatmeans and the support means in a figure 8 configuration.
 7. A seatassembly for use on a vehicle having a pair of spaced control stations,comprising: a support shaft; means of mounting the support on one sideof the vehicle for pivotal movement relative thereto; a seat; means ofmounting the seat on the suppoRt shaft for pivotal movement relativethereto; and a calbe means having a first and second end stretchedaround said seat mounting means and said shaft mounting means in afigure 8 configuration and each of said ends being secured to saidvehicle.
 8. The seat assembly of claim 7 wherein said cable means isremovably fixed to said seat mounting means.
 9. A seat assembly for useon a vehicle having a deck, a side wall and a pair of spaced controlstations comprising: a base member connected to the deck near a sidewall thereof, a centilevered shaft pivotally secured to and having oneend extending into said base member, a seat support member pivotallymounted at the other end of said cantilevered shaft, and a seat mountedon said seat support; and a cable having first and second ends attachedto said vehicle at different heights, said cable encompassing said basemember and said seat support member in a figure 8 configuration, saidcable being removably fixed to said seat mounting means.
 10. The seatassembly of claim 9 wherein said seat supporting member comprises: anelongated mounting collar connected to said support shaft, an upwardlyand downwardly extending support shaft having a seat mount secured toone end and a pivoting means to the other end.
 11. The seat assembly ofclaim 10 wherein said pivoting means is a cylindrical member having areleasable locking means for securing said cable thereto, said lockingmeans comprising pin means releasably received in said cylindricalmember and an elongated plate member.